The super-agency that oversees health-care spending for much of Southwestern Ontario so far is refusing to answer questions about why it suddenly parted ways with its executive director or if he was given a payout at taxpayers’ expense.

The board of the South West Local Health Integration Network said Friday it’s seeking new leadership and its leader for the past nine years, Michael Barrett, is out.

The Free Press emailed questions to the board’s acting chairperson, Andrew Chunilall, who at first agreed to be interviewed during the weekend, a commitment he withdrew hours later, with the agency spokesperson writing in an email the board had nothing more to say.

That leaves unanswered several key questions The Free Press had put to Chunilall, including:

How much time remained in Barrett’s contract?

Was Barrett dismissed with or without cause as defined in his employment contract?

Will Barrett receive any pay or benefits, including a severance, beyond what he accrued before his departure?

The South West LHIN’s abrupt move comes the same year it and similar health overseer agencies across Ontario took over community care and the large bureaucracy that had been administered by Ontario’s network of home care agencies, called community care access centres (CCACs). Whether the absorption of the CCAC led to concerns about the South West LHIN’s direction is another question The Free Press asked the board head to answer.

There are others.

When did the board decide to replace Barrett? Was it at the board’s latest regular meeting Oct. 17, or later and, if so, when?

The South West LHIN is responsible for planning, integrating and funding nearly 200 health service providers across a vast swath of Southwestern Ontario, including hospitals, long-term care homes, mental health and addiction agencies, community support services and community health centres.

The agency’s reach covers an area that extends from Lake Erie’s north shore to the Bruce Peninsula, a region that’s home to almost one million people.

Barrett was hired by the LHIN in 2007 as a senior director, then was selected a year later to run the organization.

He began his career with Oxford County as a planner in 1990 in the municipalities of Zorra, South-West Oxford, Ingersoll and Tillsonburg, where he helped to bring in the 911 system.

He also worked as the business manager for Women and Children’s Services at the London Health Sciences Centre.